They 'labelled a pineapple "Mohammed", to encourage discussion about blasphemy, religion, and liberty, as well as to celebrate the fact that we live in a country in which free speech is protected' but were ordered out due to 'complaints'

Thursday October 11, 2012, 1:15 am
i wonder if the muslim clubs might be similarly sanctioned for denigrating anyone they don't like very much? or what about chopping someone's head off for converting (eg recent tunisian event)? will that be ok soon?
it's all about bullying, and threats, and capitulating to bullying tactics.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 3:05 am
We tell our kids to stand up to bullies. Then the second the biggest bullies ever make any threat, the grown-ups hand over not just their lunch money, but their freedom of speech, freedom of religion (for any religion except islam), freedom of expression, and human rights standards.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 3:42 am
Reading University has kowotwed to pressure from Muslims on more than one occasion even breaking the legislation and rules on admitting a foreign student married to a naturalized Muslim. In doing so the Muslim forced a government funded organization to bend their rules for him.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 8:45 am
BULLIES, indeed! As an atheist, I understand very well why the group wanted to make its point. I wonder how long it would have been before they were silenced had they named the pineapple Jesus at the start? Once the BULLIES showed up, of course, all possible hope of logic had passed.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 8:50 am
It's amazing that Muslims aren't 'offended' by men who call themselves 'Mohammed' - isn't that offensive all these men using that name that is so precious to them? Hmmm. Pretty hypocritical. Perhaps someone should ask them that next time they think Mohammed has been 'offended' - "Which one?"

It's fear that is causing all this kowtowing to the orthodox intolerant whining Muslims, just as the head of the BBC admitted - they give the soft glove treatment to Muslims and Islam because they fear the violence they can unleash, and also for their very lives, as we've had people here in Europe who have spoken out against Islam's hateful violent teachings and have been murdered. They air programs very offensive to Christians, but as he says, they don't fear riots and death from them.

It helps to remember that the BBC, Times of London, the Prime Minister Chamberlain and many church and social leaders treated Hitler and the Nazis exactly with the same fear and appeasement in the 1930s. Look how successful that was. It just gave our enemies more time to conquer and kill more.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 10:39 am
Those are excellent points, Carola May. I think most people would be SHOCKED to know the extent to which governments, universities, publishing houses, politicians, the media, even mainline churches like the Methodists, Lutherans and Episcopalians have been caving to Islam.

Yes, we see intimidation, the very real threat of manifold violence silencing the those who dare try tell the truth about the sordid, amoral ideology of Islam.

One wonders if there will now be a fatwah against eating or selling pineapples. Personally, I think the pineapple is not an unfair representation of Muhammad. Dog and pig feces might have been a stretch, but considering that almost every Islamic country burns in effigy leaders of Western countries, especially the U.S., as well as the flags of a number of countries, who are Muslims to complain about everything.

The Muslim Brotherhood takes the viciously demonizing artwork and antisemitic propaganda directly from the Nazis to demonize Israel and Jews everywhere. Even Indonesian Islamic leaders are inculcating their followers to hate Jews (Christians, non-Muslims, homosexuals, too). Why? There aren't even Jews any to speak of there.

The answer: Jihad and worldwide Islamic dominance, and the belief that the Islamic messiah, the 12th Imam, can only return when all else is destroyed.

Islam is an ideology of destruction of humans, rights, property, laws, played out multiple times a day all over the world.

Check out www.TheReligionOf Peace.com towards the bottom for the monthly stats. No other "religion" can come close to islam's violent, hateful insanity.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 10:48 am
I would add the following factual adjectives about Islam to fascist: totalitarian, supremacist, successionist, intolerant, murderous, bigoted, racist, and violent. I hope we keep it out of our country, but it looks like Obama's been importing Muslims, who don't share our values, by some 150,000 during his first term, and promises even more if given a second chance.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 11:06 am
How said it is that an UK University would subordinate free speech to political correctness in a way that encourages violent men to suppress speech they dislike by threats of violence.

Check out the latest "diversity visa numbers" from hot spots. The numbers from Africa-especially Egypt and Ethiopia' (Somalia) doubled from last month. "Palestine" is chargeable to Egypt and Somalis are chargeable to Ethiopia.

"Diversity" visa -- a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants.” Diversity Visas (DV) each fiscal year are made available to persons from countries that with low rates of immigration to the United States. The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card. It is also known as the Green Card Lottery.

Taking into account dependents, there were more than 10 million participants in the DV-2008. The number of applicants for the DV-2009 was 45% higher than for the DV-2008.

VISA NUMBERS FOR JULY

DIVERSITY (DV-2009) VISA NUMBERS:

--------------------------------

For July, immigrant numbers in the Diversity Visa category are available to qualified DV-2009 applicants chargeable to all regions/eligible countries as listed below:

Africa 48,700

Except: Egypt 21,600 [includes "Palestinians"]

Ethiopia 21,100 [includes Somalia]

Nigeria 14,400

This does not include the arrival in the US of Palestinian Iraqis.

Atlanta - The State Department confirmed today that as many as 1,350 Iraqi Palestinians – once the well-treated guests of Saddam Hussein and now at outs with much of Iraqi society – will be resettled in the US, mostly in southern California, starting this fall.

It will be the largest-ever resettlement of Palestinian refugees into the US – and welcome news to the Palestinians who fled to Iraq after 1948 but who have had a tough time since Mr. Hussein was deposed in 2003. Targeted by Iraqi Shiites, the mostly-Sunni Palestinians have spent recent years in one of the region's roughest refugee camps, Al Waleed, near Iraq's border with Syria.

"Really for the first time, the United States is recognizing a Palestinian refugee population that could be admitted to the US as part of a resettlement program," says Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch in Washington.

Given the US's past reluctance to resettle Palestinians – it accepted just seven Palestinians in 2007 and nine in 2008 – the effort could ruffle some diplomatic feathers.

Saddam's guests

Palestinian refugees came to Iraq in successive waves over several decades, first in 1948, then in 1967, and in 1991. They were treated well under Hussein but were also used to attack Israeli policies, and their presence was resented by many Iraqis.

June 4: DIVERSITY VISA NUMBERS: IMPORTING JIHAD IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS

APRIL: "Diversity Visas" and "Religious Visas": Importing Jihad

UPDATE: Speaking of Somalian Muslims:

David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Frank J. Magill, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota announced that on July 9 in Minneapolis, U.S. District Court Judge John Tunheim sentenced Mohammed Abdullah Warsame to 92 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Warsame, a naturalized Canadian citizen of Somali descent, was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization – al Qaeda – in a Jan. 20, 2004, indictment returned in the District of Minnesota. A June 21, 2005, superseding indictment also charged Warsame with one count of providing material support to al-Qaeda and three counts of making false statements to the FBI. Warsame pleaded guilty to the material support count of the superseding indictment on May 5, 2009. The government has agreed as part of a plea agreement to dismiss the remaining charges.

"I applaud the many agents, analysts and prosecutors whose tireless efforts led to this sentence. This case serves as a reminder of the continuing threats we face as a nation and our resolve to meet those threats," said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.

Back in the day, under Bush, when we busted terrorists and killer not performed outreach on them.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 4:02 pm
Our president spent 20 years in the Liberation Theology church of the Reverend Wright, who hates capitalism, America, Jews, Israel, and whites. This hardly qualifies as Christian. The dear Reverend is also a close friend of the Hitler admirer Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, who similarly has the same set of prejudices. Obama payed his "father figure" and "mentor", Reverend Wright $150,000. to get lost and stay quiet when Obama was campaigning the first time, because Obama realized that Wright was a huge liability.

Obama's credibility as a Christian is near zero. Spending 20 years in a hate "church" does not help his credibility in this regard. He is a fraud on a number of levels, including calling himself a Christian.

Thursday October 11, 2012, 8:55 pm
Is this the kind of empty rhetoric and silly insinuations you make when faced with data you asked for, but cannot dispute?

I don't understand how someone as judgmental as your statements indicate you are can accuse someone else of judgmentalism. We are all judgmental, Pam, and that's why we write here. You seem to suggest that Christians are more judgmental than you are. Is it your prejudice that confers Christianity with more judgmentalism than the religion or non-religion you choose to be?

Your comments on Islam are insightful and to the point. When you say they are bullies, I think you have put your finger on the nature of Islam quite precisely. It seems like you have a willful blindness in not seeing the president's complicity in greatly compounding the problem in the Islamic world, the U.S.'s position in it, and the increased problems with Islam and it's growing numbers in this country.

Friday October 12, 2012, 8:12 am
"BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson commented, ‘It is vitally important that people are able to criticise the beliefs of others, and this extends to simple satire of religious figures. This is especially true at Universities, where critical inquiry is at the core of their mission. Offence is not a reason to ban something from taking place, and it is a shame that after a string of similar incidents earlier this year, yet another situation of this nature has occurred at Reading, with Student Unions continuing to censor."

Either a society is committed to freedom of expression or it is not. The exceptions, of course, are those statements that can cause harm like shouting Fire in a crowded theater when there is none. The only way for this global society to move towards a peaceful global society is for people to get over their thin skins and get on with a free exchange of ideas - that cannot happen when some ideas or words are disallowed or worse used to provoke violent outbursts and protests. The solution is simple yet we seem unable to understand let alone live it. Voltaire first said, "While I disapprove of what you say, I will defend unto death your right to say it." That is what should be our model, what should be the Islamic model, all religions and all secular humanists model. We don't kill people over words, we try to understand them, engage in discussion about them and if need be, agree to disagree. Anything less is not a free society, nor a free world. I don't get why anyone would want to live in a world where something as simple as words are cause for bloodlust.

When our world adopts this model, we can start thinking about calling ourselves a civilization, provided we have also admitted wholly into our world women as equal partners in all things. We're a ways from that, I'm sorry to say, but it should nonetheless be the goal of all who value freedom for themselves and for everyone else. Silence in the face of insanity such as occurred with the pineapple is the same thing as condoning it. I wonder sometimes if half the world have lost their minds. Bending over backwards to not offend a certain segment is offensive all by itself. That free people don't understand that is chilling.

Friday October 12, 2012, 3:08 pm
We must use the same legal tactics back. Just like muslims complain and sue because they are offended (as if there is a law that gives anyone the right to not be offended?!?), we must take every opportunity to sue islam and muslims for offending us. And, if atheism is not given the same rights as stupid religious beliefs, then pick a religion you feel reasonably comfortable with and speak / sue for offensive islamic acts and words against that religion. If we unite, the islamic idiots won't stand a chance, just like Hitler and Nazi Germany really didn't stand a chance once the allied forces really united! Wake up, and help destroy islam.

Saturday October 13, 2012, 12:51 am
It was completely wrong to name a pineapple "muhammed"
I am sure that pineapple had never thieved,murdered or otherwise behaved in a barbaric manner and certainly could not have been responsible for rape or for that matter "pledging its word only to break it"

Saturday October 13, 2012, 12:58 am
Freedom of speech is becoming more and more threatened. The OIC (Org of Islamic Conference - tho some may think the 'C' stands for 'Conquest') made up of 57 Muslim-dominated nations has their own 'human rights' declaration (they reject the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights) based on intolerant Sharia law which does NOT allow freedom of speech and commands death to those who criticize of leave Islam, among others like gay people, and does NOT recognize equal rights for women and protections for children, or freedom of religion, as Islam teaches that no religion can ever be treated as equal to Islam, the only truth.

The OIC has been lobbying the UN for years to make offending Islam an international crime, and that is very vague since even reading hate verses from Islamic scriptures against Jews, Christians and all other non-Muslims, is considered 'offending' Islam, even tho that's what it teaches! They don't want the true history of Islam's violent spread or Mohammed's cruel debauched life to be told, even tho it is all in their own texts.

For those naive enough to think this can't happen, let us remind you it is already a crime in 5 European countries to 'denigrate' Islam. Only Islam. An Austrian woman was convicted of this. Why? She read hate verses from the qur'an in a small private group! She was opposing the hate! It was Islam's own teachings that were hateful and 'denigrating' yet she was the one convicted of a crime. It is sickening how this hateful ideology is gaining such power in the West, which it wants to conquer and destroy.

Obama and Ms. Clinton have been working with the OIC and helped finally get a UN resolution passed to criminalize hate speech against religion which incites violence. Well, no rational person would think inciting violence is protected free speech, but the way this can be twisted is alarming.

The only religion all of this is meant to protect is Islam which knows it can't withstand the light of questioning or criticism. Islam's own doctrines of hate toward all non-Muslims and its teachings that blaspheme and denigrate Jesus Christ, which are very offensive to Christians, will not count, and don't. Jesus and Christianity are routinely insulted, questioned, ridiculed and demeaned in the western media but no one riots or murders over this. Only Muslims, and they riot and kill even when their own texts are exposed to the light.

Saturday October 13, 2012, 1:12 am
Marc H, you make a very good point.

I've often wondered how different things would be if Christians rioted against the persecutions of their fellows happening across the Muslim-ruled lands right now. If they rioted every time a TV show demeaned Jesus or someone burned a Bible (Iran recently burned 6500 Bibles - did you even hear about it?) or a Muslim authority preached hate against them. What if Jews rioted and killed every time Muslims spewed their usual hate and death calls against them?.

What if Buddhists rioted every time a statue of the Buddha was treated with disrespect or Buddhist children were brutally beheaded in the Islamist violence and terrorism in southern Thailand to force Buddhists out of that are so a Sharia Islamic state can be cut out. Or Philipinos or Kenyans or Nigerians etc over the Islamist threats and killings there?

What if westerners rioted and killed every time Muslims burned one of our embassies, kidnapped, raped and forced a young non-Muslim girl to convert to this religion of peace and tolerance? That would be an ongoing riot event for how common that is in countries like Egypt and Pakistan etal.

Maybe if everyone in the world started standing up to these bigoted bullies they wouldn't be kowtowed to so much, at the expense of our freedoms. I read a quote once that said "Islam uses freedom and democracy to destroy freedom and democracy" and it sure seems to be happening before our very eyes.

Let's see at least people, churches, synagogues, temples, civil and human rights groups suing and protesting over every hate verse in Islamic scriptures, every Islamist atrocity, every Muslim occupied country's refusal to grant equal rights to non-Muslims (that would be all of them), etc etc etc. Maybe the authorities would have to fear and respect us too since fear seems to be the driving force in appeasing Islam.

Saturday October 13, 2012, 2:59 am
I would imagine that the main complainant in this case would be the pineapple. What sort of cruel person would taken a perfectly innocent (and probably succulent) pineapple and brand it with such a despicable name - absolutely shocking!

Sunday October 14, 2012, 7:23 pm
Islam takes otherwise sensible people and turns them into fried-brain idiots. Muslims are such a bunch of crybabies, just like their raping, murdering, pedophile false prophet. Muhammad could not handle criticism, being the demonic weakling devoid of character he was. So Muslims too, as they worship Muhammad, have to act like crybabies and not be able to withstand criticism. The reason Muhammad could not stand criticism, and why Muslims can't handle it either, is because Islam is simply a false system of belief. When people called him out on it, Muhammad turned on them (Jews and Christians) and anyone else including Muslims, including his wives (Sura 66). When Muslims asked questions about Islam during Muhammad's time, and realized it made no sense, they left Islam (good for them). So that is why it was "revealed" to Muhammad in the Qur'an that Muslims should not ask questions.

The parallel between dealing with Hitler and Muhammad is striking. Most people aren't aware of the connection between Hitler and Islam.

We must defend free speech and do not let Muslims take it away. Once it is gone, it is gone. The Muslims are well united in their effort to turn America and the West into Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, etc. We need to be united in ours. America, get your head out of the sand and see Islam for what it really is, a political system of worldwide conquest designed to enslave all, including Muslims. Demand the media and government speak openly about the real face of Muhammad. Push back against Islamic supremacy.